How She Comes Home
by hanzsolo2
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS: Fix-it fic #1. Three chapter story that follows the aftermath of everything and more importantly, how she comes home. Bucky/Steve Bromance, Clint/Natasha Bromance and a hint of possible Steve/Natasha
1. Chapter One

**Endgame has me shook and I've bawled like 5 times since I saw it. The ending wasn't what I was expecting, and I don't know how I feel if anything. This is one of MANY fix-it fics I wrote in response to the ending. This one is for Natasha.**

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When Sam finishes talking to Steve, Bucky can only wonder what the old man has to say to him.

The weathered 80-year-old, despite his hunched shoulders and wrinkled skin, sits with the same confidence only Steve Rodgers can possess. Bucky is familiar to it, of course. The confident air that surrounds the small man isn't the same one that sticks to Captain America like a second skin.

Bucky knows because the confidence had always belonged to Steve Rogers. And Bucky knew he was no longer looking at Captain America, no. Steve had passed on the mantle to Sam Wilson, who Bucky knew deserved to carry on the legacy more than anyone.

Still, Steve's eyes sparkle as Bucky sits next to him.

Steve and Bucky. Just as they started and just as they always had been.

"Hey, jerk." Steve starts, his voice thick with emotion.

Immediately, Bucky can't help but feel tears gather at the corner of his eyes at the look in Steve's eyes.

How lively, how peaceful, his brother looks.

Because Steve isn't just his best friend, he is his brother. And Bucky knows Steve better than anyone else to know how mischievous the sparkle in Steve's eyes could be.

For a while, they simply talk.

Steve tells him he's sorry, that for once in his life he chose to be selfish. Chose to live and grow old and boy, did he _live_. The wedding ring that sits on his left hand is a testament to that, (without a shred of doubt, Bucky thinks of Steve's special girl and of the life they must've built) and Bucky takes note of the way there are laugh lines that adorn the sides of Steve's eyes.

Laugh lines that, as he stares at them, help him finally understand.

Steve had always been selfless, and so Bucky swallows any bitterness that pools in his mouth with a small smile. Steve deserved to be selfish for once in his life, and Bucky decides he can turn a blind eye to what it all means.

But it _hurts_.

It hurts, knowing his brother is old and dying. And Bucky only knows this because somehow, the glint in Steve's eyes is always telling. To Bucky, at least.

But it seems for Bucky's own sanity, they continue talking for what seems like hours before, finally, Steve says the words Bucky has been anticipating all afternoon.

"If I had one more thing planned." Steve's voice is whispery. "Would you follow me, one last time?"

The air seems to escape his lungs with Steve's question, and after what feels like years of his heart hammering away in his chest, Bucky finally manages to tear his gaze from the lake, and slowly, draws his eyes to meet Steve's.

Brown meets blue, and in that instant, Bucky lets the first tear fall.

"I told you, punk," Bucky croaks, affectionately. "I'm with you, 'till the end of the line."

This time, the tear falls down Steve's face as the old man smiles.

"' Till the end of the line." Steve agrees.


	2. Chapter Two

When Bucky leads Steve small frame into the room, everyone is already standing. And the old man realizes by the way they all stare that Sam must've told them what had happened.

"What's going on here, Cap?" It's Rhodey who breaks the silence first.

The man stands with a bleary-eyed Pepper on his right and shy looking Morgan behind his legs. Peter shuffles closer towards them instinctively, and Steve's heart lurches at what remains of Tony's legacy.

"I took a page out of Tony's book." Is all Steve can say, his withered eyes dancing around the long room.

Aside from Bucky and Tony's family stands Fury and Hill; Bruce; Thor; Scott and his team; T'Challa and his warriors; Sam; Stephen Strange; Wanda; Nebula and the Guardians; Carol; and of course, Clint.

Almost everyone is there.

The entire room falls back into silence, and Steve barely acknowledges the small squeeze Bucky gives him as he holds his hand.

Steve isn't oblivious, though. Everyone is waiting for him to continue. To speak and guide them the only way their Captain can.

But Steve isn't their Captain, not anymore.

However, Steve knows he owes it to them to give them an answer. Now more than ever.

And so, he speaks.

"You know; I don't think any of us would be here if it wasn't for Nat."

A strangled gasp slices through the air, and Steve doesn't need to turn his head to know that it's Clint.

The jaded archer, mercenary, who was struggling so hard to mask the bittersweet heartache he felt about regaining his family only at the expense of his sister. His best friend. Out of all of them, Clint was the one who was hit the most with her death. But Steve was no different.

Natasha was important to him, too.

More than anyone would've realized, including him.

"I think Tony had the right idea about living his life. About family. About bringing our people back together." Steve begins slowly, offering his friends' family a small smile. At his words, Pepper's face wavers with a look of utter heartbreak though she returns Steve's smile.

"At the end of the day, there is only one other person I can think of that shared his sentiment of reuniting us. One who I figured, a soul for the stone, could be brought back. Deserves to see all this."

Steve begins rambling, only stopping as Clint finally breaks away from where he leans against the wall before stopping right in front of him.

The look in his eyes is desperate, pleading for a sliver of hope.

Despite his calm façade, Steve knows exactly how the archer feels.

"Steve," Clint asks thickly. "What are you saying? Are you saying you can bring her back?"

For a minute, Steve says nothing. Deciding to take in the expressions of everyone in the long room.

There are some like his teammates who stare at him disbelieving, almost as though it was one thing to see him now as an old man but to hear he could possibly bring back their own was something else entirely.

Then there are those like the Guardians and Strange, and even Bruce, who seems to watch him with wide eyes. Understanding the implications of his old man rambling.

"Yeah, I think I can," Steve nods, "Which is why I've come to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" The voice that speaks belongs to neither Clint or any other adult, for that matter. "That means you will be seeing my Daddy then, am I right?"

It's Morgan who speaks.

If his team hadn't had realized his implications earlier, Steve knows that by now they know what he has planned because, in a sudden explosion, everyone seems to be talking at the revelation Morgan makes.

Morgan, with her small body and her intelligent brown eyes.

She had Tony's eyes, Steve notes fondly.

The way she looks at him makes him think that somehow, his friend is in the room with them once more. And maybe it's the twinkle in them, the same one Tony got whenever he agreed to an insane idea, but Steve finds himself mustering up what little voice he has left to speak yet again at the encouragement of Tony's twinkling eyes.

"You're right, Morgan," Steve says, his old voice somehow having enough power to quieten everyone in the long room. Everyone stands still, unmoving. Instead, their eyes rapidly ripple with varying emotions.

"I'm not going to be here for much longer." The more he speaks, the more Steve's voice grows stronger. More determined. And Steve knows, they all seem to know as they watch his spine straighten a little more, that this is what his endgame was leading up to.

"I'm not as young as I once was. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up, and maybe seeing your Dad again to apologize for everything I did is one of them. But for now, I've come to say goodbye. To tell you all that you can either let me do this one last thing or get out of my way because I have one more fight left in me. And this is how I'm choosing to go out."

Making speeches, as inspiring as they are, is natural for Steve. And he isn't quite sure if he wants to both laugh and cry at the familiarity of it.

Instead, he can only watch as slowly, one by one of his team, his family, adopts a look of acceptance at his decision.

And while everyone is understandably pained, some more than others and after they've already lost so much, seeing the understanding everyone conveys with looks alone is enough for the old man to laugh.


	3. Chapter Three

The last thing Natasha Romanoff was expecting in the Soul world was to see Steve Rodgers.

She had been sitting on a small rock of stone, watching as the sky changed from gold to a light purple before faintly, in the distance, she saw the familiar figure of the Captain materialize from the water.

At first, she had thought she was hallucinating. That finally, after what felt like who knows how long, her mind had officially been lost to the Infinity stone's influence.

But she wasn't hallucinating.

The more Steve drew closer to her, with his face young as ever and eyes surprisingly old and knowing, Natasha could tell it was him.

"Steve," When Natasha final finds her voice, she doesn't bother hiding the emotions that leak into her tone. Surprise. Shock. Confusion. Relief. "What are you doing here?"

Steve says nothing, and instead, simple smiles.

Why isn't he saying anything? Her conscious screams.

"How's Clint? How's –" Natasha breath hitches, and for a split second, her eyes flood with panic. "Did we lose? Is that why you're here?"

Steve chuckles then, and it's a sound that has the wind in Natasha's chest standing up. Her eyes pool with tears, and her shoulders shake a little as sobs threaten to escape her mouth.

"You know you took longer than a minute Nat," Is all Steve can say at first, and Natasha can't help but fling herself into the warmth of his arms as he holds her close. It's _him_. He's real. He is not a trick of her imagination but right there in front and Natasha can barely grasp that he's _realandhewasrightthereand_\- "Thank-you."

His words are quite, spoken into the thick curls of her hair.

But Natasha is a spy, and her superb hearing had always one of the perks of her dangerous life.

"What do you mean thank-you, Steve?" She asks again, willing her emotions to settle. "What's going on?"

This time, Natasha realizes that her cheek has grown warm. That a tear has fallen from Steve's eyes and has joined the relieved tears that slowly trickle down her cheek.

"We couldn't have done it Nat without your sacrifice." Steve can barely hold his voice steady. "We got the stones back…we won…we defeated Thanos…everyone came back…"

A warmth of joy grows in Natasha's stomach, though as soon as it comes she grows cold again with Steve's next words.

"But we lost so much…" He says mournfully. "Vision…You…_Tony_…"

The last name sends ice down Natasha's spine, and clenching her jaw, she can't help but breathe deeply to refrain from hyperventilating.

Tony Stark; genius, philanthropist, billionaire, husband, father, friend.

At the thought of Tony, with his smiling face and brown eyes, suddenly Natasha thinks of similar brown eyes and a small face and her knees buckle under the weight of her thoughts.

Catching her weight, Steve watches as pain envelops her features as his smile grows weak.

"They're safe, Nat. What Tony did, what you did, your sacrifices is the reason why so many people were brought back. So many families reunited. But I didn't come here to tell you everything. I came here so you can go home, so you can see for yourself what we did. What _you_ did."

Steve's voice grows faint in Natasha's ears, and it's then that she realizes what Steve's presence in the realm means.

"Why?" Her voice comes out weak, defeated. And she closes her eyes to stop the tears from falling.

Warmth encases her cheeks once more and knowing that it couldn't possibly be her tears, her eyes flutter opens once again to meet Steve's eyes.

He is smiling still, but his eyes are sad.

"When you died…and Tony…" His breath hitches, "I realized that if I could, I would do anything to bring you guys back. But Tony can't come back. He's gone and Pepper and Morgan are going to be okay because they have us, the Avengers. But you, you could come back. And people like Clint and his kids need you. We only needed a substitute for your soul..."

Steve laughs a sad sound that echoes in the empty world around them before gratitude clouds his eyes.

"And so I figured we could get you back but I wasn't willing to give up anyone else. Everyone's lost so much and there's still so much to do with Wanda and Vision and you." His thumb moves to her cheek to run soothing shapes into her skin.

"So I took a page out of Tony's book, went back to where it all went wrong for me and I _lived_ Nat. I knew you would've never made me do this unless I made something of myself so I went back and I grew old. I lived…all because of you."

Images rush through the young woman's mind as she pictures Steve in the 1940s.

He is dancing, and for the first time since she has met him, Steve looks relaxed, carefree. Peggy is nestled in his arms, and the glare of their matching wedding rings distracts her from the sound of children's laughter in the background.

While bittersweet, it is a glorious sight, Natasha thinks to herself.

And so when she pulls herself back from his arms, she musters every ounce of gratitude and love into her smile and directs it to Steve.

Steve Rodgers, who has in all the years she has known him, becomes not only her Captain but best-friend.

"And that's why I'm here." He says, eyes twinkling once more. "So you can live too."

By the time he tells her the rest of the plan, the sky has officially darkened from gold to purple.

And Natasha can tell by the sad twinkle that shines in Steve's eyes that their goodbye is approaching.

For a second, they simply stare at one another. Maybe in another life, they could've been more than what they were, but it's a thought Natasha dismisses with ease.

Instead, she lets herself fall into his loving embrace and at that moment, she allows herself to feel everything all at once.

Relief. Safe. Hope. Happiness and most of all, she feels _ali_-

* * *

When Natasha wakes up in Vormir once more, there's already a large group of people surrounding her body.

Among them is Rhodey, Bruce, Sam and Bucky, Wanda, T'Challa and Okoye, Thor, Rocket and Nebula and other people she hasn't met and she can't help but let her tears fall freely as she looks upon the familiar faces of her team.

Her family.

Before she can say anything, let alone sit up on her own, warm fingers curl around the circle of her wrist and tugs her onto her feet.

A body slams into her then, and Nat lets out a breathless laugh as she feels the familiar body of her brother curl around her.

It's Clint.

Clint's chest vibrates as he chuckles, and Natasha's own laughter joins him as he picks her up and twirls her around with all their team watching with sad smiles.

It doesn't take her long to realize that there are some people missing, because she sees it in the thinly veiled pain in Rhodey and Bucky's eyes. She can feel it in her heart, too. But she doesn't make that comment.

Instead, as Clint places her on the ground, Natasha sucks in a huge breath of air as she grasps his hand within her own.

Smiling, she raises her head to meet everyone's gazes before she speaks.

"Let's go home." Is all she can say, and like the rest of her family voice their own joy and agreement, Natasha feels her chest swell with warmth as the familiar echo of Steve and Tony's laughter join in.

_She is home._

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**I don't know guys lol. I am a mess.**


End file.
